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NiGHTS (character)
NiGHTS (voiced by Julissa Aguire) is a First-level Nightmaren and the primary protagonist of the series. NiGHTS is a playful, kind, and free spirited creature who dwells in the Night Dimension. Although NiGHTS was created by Wizeman, she didn't agree with Wizeman's plans to take over Nightopia so she rebelled. One note would be that NiGHTS didn't rebel against her creator because she is 'good' and Wizeman is 'evil', but because NiGHTS just doesn't like Wizmean. Reala and NiGHTS are equal in their acrobatic fighting abilities. But due to their opposites in their personalities, that makes them perfect rivals. NiGHTS has the ability to dualize with whoever frees her from the Ideya confinement. Character NiGHTS (always capitalized except for the i) is a first-level Nightmaren, created by Wizeman to steal Ideya. Despite being one of Wizeman's most powerful creations, NiGHTS is a remarkably mischievous free spirit who did not like taking orders, so much so that Wizeman has on multiple occasions, imprisoned him/her within Nightopia to keep her out of the way. NiGHTS asks for the assistance of the Visitors (Claris and Elliot in Nights into Dreams and William and Helen in Nights: Journey of Dreams) in defeating Wizeman presumably because NiGHTS simply doesn't like Wizeman, and not because she is inherently 'good'. NiGHTS is officially androgynous, as stated by creator, Yuji Naka, and often changes to suit the individual people and scenery NiGHTS encounters. It should be noted that all nightmaren are genderless, including NiGHTS' rival and sibling, Reala. NiGHTS into Dreams After rebelling against Wizeman in NiGHTS into Dreams, NiGHTS is imprisoned in an Ideya Palace as punishment. The only way she can be freed from the prison is by either, Claris or Elliot, who possess the red Ideya of courage, merge with her. NiGHTS' freedom is only temporary, making it harder for her and the dreamer to collect their stolen Ideya. Should their time run out, NiGHTS will be imprisoned back in the Ideya Palace until another Ideya is brought back for her release. NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams Created along with Reala to be Wizeman's right hand man, NiGHTS was once obedient towards her creator. However, NiGHTS later rebelled and was confined in an ideya palace, a gazebo like container for dreamers' ideya, in Nightopia as punishment. Only Visitors with Red Ideya can release NiGHTS from imprisonment. Gender The original designers of NiGHTS wanted NiGHTS to appeal to a wider audience and saw gender would hold their new character back. During an interview, Takashi Iizuka stated, "NiGHTS is neutral, and therefore has no gender. The impressions of the character with regards to gender are totally up to the player." In Nights: Journey of Dreams, is rather a confusion amongst fans, NiGHTS is referred to as a male by Owl and Reala, but she is clearly voiced by a woman, and NiGHTS does appear more feminine in Journey of Dreams than the original game. But in the spanish site of Sega Superstars Tennis say in the character info NiGHTS is a girl in the game espanish: NiGHTS rival and sibling es una nightmaren de primer nivel. "es una" means "she's a" in english and it's confusing in that case. Personality NiGHTS personality is somewhat that of a child. While she can be playful and mildly rude in the proper situations, NiGHTS also has the ability to switch to serious in a heartbeat. NiGHTS is very compassionate towards visitors even going as far as to put personal feelings aside. For example, in NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams' Sky Concert stage when NiGHTS is asked by Helen to fly up and try it NiGHTS replied "No thanks. I think I'll pass.", but NiGHTS had a change of heart upon seeing how important it was to her. NiGHTS is also very merciful. For instance after beating Reala in the Delight City stage, upon noticing that Reala seemed hurt, NiGHTS asked if he was alright only to be captured. In the final stage NIGHTS made the ultimate sacrifice thereupon proving how much NiGHTS disliked Wizeman. In the cinema before the fight against Wizeman (extended version), after dualizing with Helen and Will, Wizeman says "You seem most determined NiGHTS. you plan to sacrifice yourself to stop me? Nightmare is my creation. To destroy me is to destroy everything I have created. In other words if you destroy me, you will be destroying yourself as well." NiGHTS than states, "I know what I'm doing. I've known it all along. Let's end this, Wizeman!". Will and Helen separated from NIGHTS because they didn't want him/her to disappear forever but NIGHTS convinces them by saying "...It's okay. We need to protect your dreams. Don't worry, no matter what happens, we'll be friends forever." They dualize and defeat Wizeman. NIGHTS gives a final bow before fading away into white light. It is unclear whether or not NIGHTS "disappeared forever" as after the credits the child of choice is seen sleeping in their bed and then the camera pans out towards the clock tower where you can see NiGHTS on the top on the spire, imaginary flute in hand, peacefully watching over the city. As previously stated it is unclear whether this is proof that NIGHTS survived or that it is a memorial in her honor but, however it is clear that it survived as Sega stated that for another game. Abilities Besides flying, NiGHTS shows various other abilities in both games. In the first game, NiGHTS shows the ability to transform into a bobsled, an ability that was expanded upon in the sequel with the introduction of persona masks. Each mask allows NiGHTS to change forms and abilities accordingly, including those of a dragon, rocket and dolphin. Along with the persona masks, NiGHTS is also able to transform into a boat and a roller coaster, as well as rolling up in a ball to roll down slides (a possible reference to Sonic Team's title character Sonic the Hedgehog). NiGHTS can create small portals called paraloops with twinkle dust, a bright substance that emits from his/her hands when she flies in a circle. Home Nights comes from the dream world of Nightopia (referred to in-game as the Night Dimension), and takes shape according to the thoughts, ideas, personalities, and will of the Visitors (humans from the real world). Nights lives alongside Owl (a brown owl who acts as elder and guide in Nights: Journery of Dreams) and the Nightopians. NiGHTS however is a Nightmaren and henceforth, her origin of creation is in the dark realm of Nightmare. NiGHTS does what she can to stop Wizeman from taking over. Interaction with other characters The Visitors: (Claris, Elliot, Will and Helen) NIGHTS is kind towards the children in both games, helping all four of them to defeat Wizeman on two separate occasions. NiGHTS shows the children around different Dream Worlds and works together with them to dispatch numerous Nightmaren. Owl: '''NIGHTS shows disrespect for Owl on a regular basis, but also shows a sort of friendship with the bird. Owl often seems frustrated with NiGHTS's rambunctious behavior, and occasionally lectures her, but to no avail. '''Wizeman: NIGHTS shows a special distaste for Wizeman. NiGHTS is glad to put a halt to Wizeman's plans, and has defeated Wizeman in combat twice. Any orders given to NiGHTS by Wizeman are in vain, as NiGHTS simply continues the rebellion against the creator of Nightmare. It should be noted that the reason NiGHTS rebels against her master is not because NiGHTS is good and Wizeman is evil, but simply due to NiGHTS' extreme dislike for Wizeman and his ideals. Reala: NIGHTS' relationship with Reala appears complicated. NiGHTS seems to still hold Reala as a friend or at least a former one, while Reala pities NiGHTS for rebelling against Wizeman. Reala often plays on NiGHTS' mercy, using it as opportunity to imprison her. Reala sometimes refers to NiGHTS as a "sibling". Creation and conception Naoto Naoto Oshima was the original Nights designer and Kazuyuki Hoshino was the character designer for the video game Nights into Dreams. Though Nights into Dreams was left without a sequel for over a decade, the character continued to appear within games developed by Sonic Sonic Team as a cameo, showing much affection for the character and the game. This led to the eventual sequel, Nights: Journey of Dreams. Naoto Oshima had left Sega by that point, so Kazuyuki Hoshino was placed in charge of character design for Nights: Journey of Dreams. Takashi lizuka, the lead game designer, felt that with Hoshino, they captured the style used for the character in the original game. Reception Referring to Nights into Dreams, IGN said "NiGHTS was essentially Sonic in the air..." The IGN review of Nights: Journey of Dreams called NiGHTS a "mysterious creature." The IGN reviewer noted, "strangely NiGHTS and all other characters in Nightopia are from England?" but said the voice acting was "decent, if not a bit over-the-top." In the English version of the game, NiGHTS is voiced by American voice actress Julissa Aguirre. In his review of Nights: Journey of Dreams, Kevin Vanord of GameSpot described the character as an "androgynous jester." VanOrd said, "NiGHTS is smoothly animated", but said NiGHTS' "vocal personification (may not be) everyone's cup of tea." VanOrd wrote, "The jester is genderless... and the accompanying voice is, well, correspondingly confused. But whether you think NiGHTS sounds like a young woman or a young boy, it's a good fit for the character." Appearances NiGHTS also starred in Archie Comics' 3 comic adaption of Nights into Dreams as well as another 3 comic mini-series about Nights coming to the real world. S/he is also a playable character in Sonic Riders, Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity, and Sega Superstar Tennis. However, in Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity and Sega Superstar Tennis, NiGHTS is wearing his/her Nights: Journey of Dreams outfit. Players can also fly as NiGHTS through familiar Nights into Dreams landscapes in Sega Superstars which involved using a special motion censer camera call the EyeToy. Christmas Nights into Dreams NiGHTS starred in a single level demo game for the Sega Saturn called Christmas Nights into Dreams that featured many date related events not available in the original game. Around the Christmas season, NiGHTS' outfit changes into a red and white Santa-like outfit to match the change in scenery. Other Cameos Over the years, NiGHTS has made many cameos in other Sonic Team games, including Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure DX (in the Casinopolis level), Sonic Adventure 2 (in the City Escape and Radical Highway levels), Shadow the Hedgehog, as in Lethal Highway, the title screen appears in a billboard without any text. In Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2, the player can raise a Chao that resembles Nights by feeding them Fly animals and energies. NiGHTS also appears in Sonic Pinball Party and has his own pinball board themed after Nights into Dreams. Another appearance is in Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg as a hatchable creature. The Circus Hat in Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg resembles NiGHTS' purple jester hat and allows you to roll an egg by walking on top of it. NiGHTS has also made a guest appearance in Phantasy Star Online I & II Plus, in an Episode 2 quest. Recently NiGHTS has appeared in Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing as the flag waver (fulfilling a similar role to Lakitu's in the Mario Kart series). According to Sega, NiGHTS' addition was last minute due to the fans' demanding his inclusion in the game. Sega has also rumored that NiGHTS might become a playable downloadable character based on the sales of the game. Gallery File:NiDNiGHTS.jpg|''NiGHTS into Dreams...'' File:Swanky.jpg|''Journey of Dreams'' File:Modern_NiGHTS.png|''Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity'' sst_nights.png|NiGHTS in Sega Super Star Tennis PinballPartyNiGHTS.jpg|NiGHTS in Sonic Pinball Party nights57.jpg|xmas nights art Trivia *Despite the common fan belief that NiGHTS is male or female, and the fact that Reala referred to NiGHTS as a boy in Journey of Dreams, Sega has confirmed multiple times that NiGHTS is genderless as well as all the other nightmaren. *All of NiGHTS' cameos in the background of Radical Highway were removed and replaced with chao images in Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games. *Even if NiGHTS is refered to genderless SEGA usually refers him as an "he/she" See also * Nights into Dreams * Nights: Journey of Dreams * Nights 3 External links * [http://www.sega.com/games/game_temp.php?game=nights&id=nights_hp_mpb Nights: Journey of Dreams at Sega of America] * [http://www.sonicteam.com/nights/index.html Official Sonic Team Nights website] (japenese) Category:Characters Category:Nights into Dreams Characters Category:Journey of Dreams Characters Category:Nightmarens Category:Nightmarens (Nights into Dreams) Category:Nightmarens (Journey of Dreams)